Category: Spring 2002 Newswire
Native American Bank To Serve Indian Country’s Economic Needs
WASHINGTON, April 24–When Calvin Tafoya, a Native American businessman of the Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, embarked upon his banking career more than 25 years ago, he discovered that a lack of cultural communication discouraged tribes in his state from interacting with many conventional banks.
“I found that out of a tribe that has a population of about 2,000 you may have about four individuals that had a bank account,” said Tafoya, who is now the CEO and president of the Santa Clara Development Corp., which focuses on diversifying the Pueblo’s business and economic activities.
Though those numbers have increased, Tafoya said, both Native Americans and traditional banks still need to accommodate each other’s procedural and cultural differences as tribes continue to gain better access to capital, especially because the state is home to 19 pueblos, 2 Apache tribes and 1 Navajo tribe.
“We have to learn from the tribal side what the business arena is about and businesses have to understand what our culture is all about — a culture that has existed for thousands of years,” Tafoya said. The way commercial business is handled in most of the U.S. is quite different from the Pueblos “relaxed, slow-paced” approach to the world, said Tafoya.
The Native American Bank, National Association (NABNA), which was launched last October, may help resolve the problems the Mohegans and many other tribes face in obtaining credit and loans from financial institutions. The new cross-tribally owned bank, headquartered in Denver, offers individuals and Native American business entrepreneurs lending opportunities to help them either leverage existing federal funds or establish credit histories for themselves.
“Part of what needs to happenáis increased involvement of Indians in their own economy with the view toward the creation of jobs and a more self-sufficient economy,” said John Beirise, president and CEO of NABNA.
Twelve founding tribes, including the Navajo Nation, and Alaska Native corporations each pledged around $1 million to establish the bank. They hired Beirise, whose experience in the banking industry spans more than three decades, to run the bank and make sure their $12.5 million investment is a success for the larger Native American community.
The Navajo Nation, the largest Native American tribe in the Southwest, supported the bank’s creation by making the $1 million capital commitment to the Native American Bancorporation, the bank’s holding company. The contribution made the Arizona-based investor, which includes a tribe in New Mexico’s northwestern corner, a major shareholder in the NABNA and a member of its board of directors.
“It is my understanding that the concept of the NAB is to establisháa partnership of tribes to align capital that would benefit reservation economies,” said the Navaho Nation’s president, Kelsey A. Begaye, in a State of the Navajo Nation Address in January.
Jacqueline L. Johnson, the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Washington, said the formation of a national bank serving Indian Country has been a longtime agenda item for many tribal leaders, including those of the Navajo Nation, before NABNA launched on Oct. 29.
“Many times Native Americans thought that the standard banking process was horrendous, and quite frankly it was,” said Johnson, who is also a board member of Sealaska Corp., one of the initial investors, which represents more than 16,000 Alaska Native shareholders.
To circumvent the discrimination some Native Americans say they have experienced within the traditional banking system, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee chairman, challenged tribal leaders to come together in 1997 to address the array of economic needs of Indian Country, which is typically plagued by poverty and unemployment.
“If you look at any statistical sampleá, Native American communities end up at the bottom of any demographically identifiable group,” Beirise said, although unemployment rates vary for each reservation.
Between 1997 and 2000, American Indians and Alaska Natives were the nation’s poorest ethnic community, with 25.9 percent of its people classed as poor (blacks were the second-poorest community, with a 23.9 percent poverty rate), according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s analysis of the 2000 Census.
The Native American Bancorporation received regulatory approval in early October from the Federal Reserve Board to acquire the Blackfeet Nation’s existing bank in Browning, Mont., the first tribally-owned bank in the U.S.. The $18 million Blackfeet National Bank branch is the only depository site serving NABNA customers so far although there are plans for expansion to other sites around the country.
Now that the bank has been chartered its mission is to focus on helping tribes overcome historic economic, cultural and institutional hurdles.
One of the major economic barriers is the difficulty Native Americans living on federal trust land still face in trying to finance home purchases and borrow money for businesses. That’s because the U.S. government holds the legal titles to most Indian lands, according to the. Treasury Department’s Native American Lending Study published in November.
A tribe may occasionally receive authorization for a mortgage lien on a trust land from the Interior Secretary or the state, but, according to Johnson, this approach may cause additional problems.
Johnson said that despite the government’s approval, many Native Americans encountered inflexible bank lending rules and regulations, which do not always address the differences between the federal government and tribal council governments, which can differ from tribe to tribe.
“Many tribes have their own judicial systems, so if you want to foreclose on a property, you need to go through the tribal government,” Johnson said, adding that unawareness of such cultural differences erects “perceived and real barriers” between Native American tribes and traditional banks.
“When corporate America was trying to penetrate Japan, it had to learn the culture before being accepted into the business world,” Tafoya noted. “It may not be as intense, but it’s along the same lines” with Native Americans and standard banks.
Beirise said he believes many reservations are operating “basic businesses” such as grocery and hardware stores that bring in lots of revenue but are not necessarily Indian-owned; that, he said, may also contribute to the lack of income and the high unemployment rates that hamper Native Americans’ attempts to build good credit histories.
“A number that is used in Indian Country that seems to be accurate, but I couldn’t tell you the genesis of, is that there is an 85 percent leakage of the dollar,” Beirise said. “That is, for every dollar that comes onto a reservation only 15 cents stays.”
Though 11 of New Mexico’s 22 federally recognized tribes generate most of their capital from Indian gaming casinos, American Indian and Alaska Native owners as a whole accounted for only 0.3 percent of the nation’s total non-farm businesses, employing only 298,661 people.
The Treasury Department’s November study also identified a “historical absence of trust between tribes and banks” as a primary cause for failed loan negotiations and the reluctance of some banks to underwrite loans. Geography was also listed as a major barrier to capital access because some tribes are situated in remote areas where the closest ATM or bank branch may be hours away.
“The challenge of this [Indian] bank is to build brick and mortar sites on the reservations, especially on the first 12 contributing to its start,” said Joely De La Torre, an assistant professor of American Indian studies at San Francisco State University. De La Torre is also the author of the forthcoming book, American Indian Political Power in the New Millennium (its working title), which discusses how tribal gaming can help increase a tribe’s economic and political clout.
Beirise said the NABNA plans to build additional branches, like the one in Browning, to handle more-commercial banking transactions. But the bank must first move beyond its startup phase as well as begin reviewing more than its current handful of loan applications before making decisions on specific branch locations.
“There is a combination of markets we are pursuing,” he said, adding that the bank must determine whether any of the investing tribes even want to establish a branch near their reservations.
The Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut, for example, invested mainly to benefit the economic power of the larger Native American community, according to James Wherry, who is the executive assistant of the tribe’s bank representative, Kenneth Reels.
The tribe may not need a nearby branch because it owns one of the state’s two Indian gaming casinos that, according to the Connecticut, Division of Special Revenue, generated a combined $965.3 million in slot machine revenues alone from July 2001 to Feb. 2002.
Unlike the Connecticut tribe, the Navajo Nation wants to work toward establishing at least one bank branch near its government’s headquarters in Arizona because it represents 225,000 tribal members in 13 counties throughout the state as well as in Utah and New Mexico, said Edward Richards, who is the executive director of the tribal government’s economic development division.
The tribe may eventually ask the bank to also build a branch in New Mexico, Richards added, because certain parts on the reservation are in remote areas, and some individuals may prefer to continue working on grazing lands rather than participate in casino employment if the state approves the reservation’s current gaming proposal.
A New Mexico branch located so far from Albuquerque, where the majority of the state’s tribes are concentrated, may seem counterintuitive, but people out West do not mind traveling long distances to a final destination, according to Tafoya.
“I can go from my [Santa Clara] pueblo to Albuquerque, which is about 100 miles away, and not think too much about the hour and a half commute that it’s going to take me,” he said.
A Native American’s decision to use a branch will most likely be based on how flexible the NABNA is when considering the needs of its customer base, De La Torre said.
Beirise said other tribes are more reluctant to make investments in the bank because it reminds them of an unsuccessful attempt in the early 1970s to launch the American Indian National Bank, the first bank created by a group of tribes.
Yet nine more tribes have placed their trust in NABNA by pledging to make future investments of less than $1 million each.
“What you have to do is draw the contrast between our approach and the approach of that bank,” Beirise said. “We are actually located in Indian communities as opposed to Washington, D.C., [and] we have more than $8.5 million in capital as compared to one that had less than $4 million.”
Beyond the bank’s intention to stimulate Indian Country’s economy through loans, Beirise said, its holding company founded the Native American Community Development Corp., a nonprofit subsidiary that will provide funds for financial literacy programs and small businesses.
Native Americans are also currently engaged in finding ways outside of the banking and gaming industries that might help stabilize their community’s finances.
The Pueblo of Santa Ana, in New Mexico, for example, partnered with Georgia Institute of Technology and Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute to improve the tribe’s digital communication by creating a broadband wireless project that will link the Internet to every home, business and government department on the pueblo, possibly within the next two years.
LaDonna Harris, the founder and president of Americans for Indian Opportunity, a nonprofit multi-tribal organization, said her group has been dedicated to educating each presidential administration since Richard M. Nixon’s on Native Americans’ economic opportunities and resources, such as coal and buffalo, because she believes economic power equals political power.
“Why are we the poorest people in the country when we have all of these resources?” asked Harris, who is of the Comanche tribe in Oklahoma and the wife of former U.S. Sen. Fred R. Harris, D-Okla. “It’s because we were poorly managed by the federal government under the Department of Interior.”
For example, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has a reputation among Native Americans for prolonging applications for tribal recognition as well as other Indian-related requests.
Harris’s organization, which is based in New Mexico, recently expanded its efforts overseas with its American Indians Ambassador Program, which draws on the technical approaches international indigenous leadership uses to survive in the face of economic globalization.
Even with those various efforts, Tafoya said, “it becomes a matter of tribes wanting and learning not only how to choose banks, but how to invest as well. It’s a whole new world for us. We are learning a lot by just being involved.”
Written for the MediaNews Group.
Shaheen Takes Pharmaceutical Drug Message to the Capitol
WASHINGTON, April 23--Governor Jeanne Shaheen has taken her fight to Congress to change a law that limits competition among prescription drug manufacturers.
If the manufacturers of 15 brand-named drugs whose patents expire over the next two years face timely competition, New Hampshire could save $2.5 million each year in prescription drug costs by 2005, Shaheen testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
"In New Hampshire, $2.5 million would make a big difference for our taxpayers and the children, seniors and other vulnerable citizens who depend on state services," she said.
A controversial section of the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act allows brand-name pharmaceutical companies to stall competition from generic manufacturers by claiming patent infringement, which automatically grants a 30-month stay by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
These loopholes "are forcing state governments, seniors and businesses to spend hundreds of millions of dollars unnecessarily on brand-name prescription drugs," Shaheen said.
She said the Granite State spent $88 million in the last fiscal year on prescription drugs, more than twice the $41.7 million it spent in 1996.
Sitting next to Timothy Muris, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Shaheen told the committee that she and other governors needed their help.
"The skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs is making it increasingly difficult for governors to provide high-quality Medicaid coverage to children, seniors and people with disabilities - without breaking the backs of taxpayers," she said in the overfilled hearing room flanked with black-and-white photos of former committee chairmen.
In written testimony, Shaheen said she wants to close loopholes in Hatch-Waxman that allow companies like AstraZeneca to use a section of the law to stall competitors from going to market with generic alternatives. AstraZeneca's patent on the popular drug Prilosec expired, she said, but it has not faced competition from a generic version of the drug because it claimed patent infringement and was granted an automatic 30-month stay on FDA approval of a generic version of the anti-heartburn medication.
The FTC, Muris said, has taken antitrust enforcement actions against drug manufacturers that have misused Hatch-Waxman.
Other testimony in favor of reforms to Hatch-Waxman came from Tim Fuller, the executive director of the Gray Panthers, an advocacy group on social issues, and Kathleen Jaeger, the president and CEO of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association. All witnesses except Shaheen represented national organizations.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the senior minority member of the committee, has introduced legislation that would eliminate the 30-month stay provision. He and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) announced their Greater Access to Affordable Pharmaceuticals Act on May 1, 2001.
During a conference call after the hearing, Shaheen said that when the New England governors met in Washington in February they passed a resolution to urge Congress to close loopholes in Hatch-Waxman
"Medicaid was the strongest rising part of the budget in most states," she said. "What's driving those costs is the cost of prescription drugs.· This isn't the only answer, but it is one of the ways we can address it."
Drug companies contend that changing Hatch-Waxman will result in less innovation, research and development of new drugs.
Two witnesses testified against changing the law.
Shelbie Oppenheimer of the ALS Association testified that advances brought about by prescription drugs have aided her battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Dr. Greg Glover, who spoke on behalf of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said that people who want to change Hatch-Waxman have not met the burden of showing why a change is needed.
Glover pointed out that generic drug companies' share half of the prescription-drug market, up from 20 percent before the law was enacted, and that generic manufactures no longer have to wait three to five years after a brand name drug's patent expires to introduce their no-name alternatives.
"As a result of the Hatch-Waxman Act, generic manufacturers are able to avoid the huge cost, estimated at over $800 million on average, of discovering and developing a new drug," Glover said.
Julie Teer, the communications director for the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, said that Shaheen "should realize that her actions would put bureaucrats in charge of medicine instead of doctors. We need to make sure life-saving innovation is not stifled."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Keene Protesters March On Washington
WASHINGTON, April 20--Tens of thousands of people arrived in tour buses at the U.S. Capitol Friday night and yesterday morning, but rather than coming to see the cherry blossoms, they arrived to decry the U.S. government's war on terrorism. And wedged in between people from all across the country were Erik Gillard and Nick Pumilia, students at Keene High School.
They and at least 150 other protesters arrived from New Hampshire, organized through groups such as Peace Action and the American Friends Service Committee. By noontime they had joined the thousands who had gathered for the weekend to protest corporate globalization, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and the drug war in Colombia, among numerous other issues.
Gathered near the Washington Monument, New Hampshire activists watched as hip-hop artists, fiery orators, and a singing group known as the "Raging Grannies" offered political commentary and entertainment. Meanwhile, volunteers with Food Not Bombs distributed day-old pastries and salad from local restaurants.
Dan "The Bagel Man," who helped found the group in Boston more than a decade ago, greeted activist friends and served food, "because if the people are hungry, we have to feed them, so they have energy to march," he said.
And march they did, thousands of demonstrators with signs and puppets, down Pennsylvania Avenue and toward the U.S. Capitol. Helicopters hovered overhead while police officers, wielding batons and shields, cordoned off several city blocks for the rally.
The police presence was far less conspicuous than at the demonstrations held in Washington, D.C. two years ago to oppose the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The violence, tear-gas and mass arrests of protesters that marred those demonstrations was also absent from yesterday's events.
The protesters that arrived from New Hampshire came in all ages.
"A lot of the time, older people tend to be more patriotic, but I'm glad to see a bridge between generations," said Nick Pumilia, 17, a junior at Keene High School.
However, Pumilia expressed frustration with the apathy of other teenagers. "It's daunting to think that the generation responsible for reinventing society is already so absorbed in the established culture," he said.
Many younger protesters were convinced their presence in Washington would change public policy.
"[President] Bush could be in the White House right now, shaking his head and seeing what effects his decisions are making," said Will Nallett, 18, from Chesterfield, who became politically active while trying to help Keene High School implement a recycling program.
While the protests could be seen from the White House, President Bush would not be looking out his window. Bush was spending the weekend at Camp David in Maryland.
The protests in Washington are a larger-scale version of the weekly peace vigils that have been held throughout New Hampshire since September 11th. Ed Bowser, 50, who began in October to organize vigils in Henniker, said that though the general response was supportive, "occasionally somebody stops by to tell us what we're doing is wrong, and we talk about it, but you can see the fear in their eyes because of what happened on September 11th, and how the government turned that fear into anger," which fueled popular support for the current war on terrorism, Bowser contended.
Many New Hampshire protesters expressed frustration with the U.S. support of Israel in the current Middle East conflict, and said that the "war on terrorism" unfairly targeted Palestinian civilians. "If anything, it's made the degree to which people suffer from all aspects of war a lot more clear to people," said Arnie Alpert, 47, coordinator of the Concord chapter of the American Friends Service Committee.
One of the students who came to protest was Maria Damato, 17, president of her senior class at Keene High School, and who helped organize a concert with the New Hampshire Hemp Council to support the decriminalization of marijuana. Damato reached out to other students last month to oppose on-campus military recruiters at Keene High School.
Damato said that her father, a Vietnam veteran, and her mother, the campus minister at Keene State College, raised her to "love life, then do your homework," she said. Active in her church, she traveled to El Salvador last year to help rebuild a village affected by an earthquake.
Another student organizer, Erik Gillard, 17, said his classmates were receptive to their ideas "if you get them in a comfortable situation where they're willing to listen." Soft-spoken, with long dreadlocks and rolled-up cargo pants, Gillard worked as an intern at an organic farm in Stoddard last summer, where he became interested in issues like genetic engineering and rainforest conservation.
Several students attributed their political ideas to the influence of their teachers. Two well-loved teachers to be precise: Tim and Brenda Dunn, English professors at Keene High School, who met while protesting the Gulf War at a peace vigil in Boston a decade ago.
"I think it's easier for kids to understand the two sides of the coin than for adults," said Tim Dunn, 62, president of the teacher's union and an army veteran. Clad in a camouflage fatigue jacket adorned with a bronze medal and a button of Albert Einstein, Dunn defended his use of left-leaning essays in his classes, even if parents disagree with his lessons. "That's why they send their kids to school," Dunn said. "If I wasn't changing people, I wouldn't be teaching them."
Dunn's military experience furthered his pacifist ideas.
"I don't think shooting at each other is the way to solve things, I just don't," Dunn said with a shrug, while his wife Brenda, 55, agreed. They both see themselves as role models for their students. "There's so much inside them you can help them discover," she said.
Other demonstrations are planned for today and Monday near the Washington Monument grounds and outside of the Washington Hilton, the site of a pro-Israel lobbying group's annual conference.
Police officials said the crowds were larger than they had anticipated and put the number at about 75,000. Metro transit officials said ridership increased significantly Saturday, but estimates would not be available until today. Organizers of the Palestinian-rights rally at the Ellipse said the gathering was the largest demonstration for Palestine in U.S. history.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Smith Helps Defeat ANWR Plan
WASHINGTON, April 18--Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) joined with the Democratic Senate majority on Thursday to block an attempt to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Drilling proponents, including Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), needed 60 votes to break a Democratic filibuster and force the Senate to vote on an amendment to the pending energy bill to allow the drilling. They fell 14 votes short, 54-46. Seven other Republican senators, including Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), voted against the drilling.
Smith, who votes with the Republican Party on more than 95 percent of issues, has made the fight against ANWR drilling a personal priority. A legislative aide said he changed his position on drilling in Alaska after receiving 7,000 letters from constituents opposed to drilling. Smith said he "took the time to study my position, and changed it to do what's right."
"The [Alaska] Coastal Plain represents one of our last complete and unspoiled Arctic ecosystems in the world," Smith said in a statement after the vote. "While I have been a supporter of exploration for many areas in this country - in fact some areas that Arctic drilling proponents have opposed - I believe it is a different case to drill and develop in a designated wildlife refuge that was set aside by both Republicans and Democrats, conservative and liberal, specifically for its pristine wilderness qualities."
Gregg, in a March interview, defended his support for drilling, saying it would "minimally impact" the coastal plain of Alaska. "The United States could replace imports of all Iraqi oil over the lifetime of the designated area of ANWR," Gregg said.
The House approved drilling in ANWR last summer. Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) voted against drilling. Rep. John Sununu (R-NH) voted for it. Sununu also successfully introduced two related amendments, one that would limit drilling to 2,000 acres and another that would distribute 50 percent of all royalties to environmental programs.
Opponents of drilling said oil from the reserve would do little to curb oil imports.
The United States now uses 19 million barrels of oil a day, more than half of which is imported. The Interior Department estimates that ANWR could supply, at most, 1.9 million barrels a day.
Environmentalists contend that opening the 1.5 million acres in the 40 year-old coastal plain refuge to drilling would harm wildlife.
The administration holds that drilling is crucial because Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has halted oil exports for 30 days.
After Thursday's vote, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said, "The president will continue to fight for the tens of thousands of jobs that are created by opening ANWR, as well as - more importantly - for the need for America to be able to achieve more energy independence that would result from opening ANWR."
Defending drilling in ANWR, Gregg cited the increase in the number of Central Arctic caribou in the nearby Prudhoe Bay region since oil was discovered there in 1969. He said that advanced technologies "drastically reduce the intrusion of necessary infrastructure on the environment when drilling." He added that 75 percent of Alaskans support limited development of ANWR.
According to a national poll conducted for the Associated Press by ICR of Media, Pa., more than half of the public oppose drilling in ANWR and only slightly more than a third favor it.
Adam Kolton, the Arctic campaign director at the Washington-based Alaska Wilderness League, which opposes ANWR drilling, said, "No oil from Alaska is used in New Hampshire - not to heat peoples' homes, not for cars, not for electricity."
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Lott, Other Senators Show up at Fundraiser for Sununu
WASHINGTON, April 17--Sen. Republican Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and other Republican senate colleagues of Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) turned up Wednesday at a Capitol Hill campaign fundraiser for Rep. John Sununu (R-NH), who is challenging Smith for his seat in September's primary.
Republican Conference Chairman Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MS) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) all showed up for the $500 per person event at a Capital Hill restaurant.
Stevens and Bond could become chairmen of the Appropriations and Small Business committees, respectively, if Republicans regain control of the Senate.
While senators rarely support challengers to incumbents in their party in a primary contest, some Republicans may still harbor ill will against Smith for his brief presidential campaign as an independent in 1999.
Lott, flanked by security guards, arrived over an hour and a half into the event and left before it concluded, staying only a brief time.
Lott "is walking an uncomfortable tightrope," said Jennifer Duffy, who monitors Senate races for the Cook Political Report in Washington.
Lott also cohosted a Smith fundraiser earlier this year and, according to Smith's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, agreed to be listed on every Washington fundraiser invite Smith sends out.
Bond, who along with Shelby endorsed Sununu last year, said support for the congressman in the Senate is "good" and the turn out was "great." When asked if he thinks Sununu will beat Smith, he said he "thinks so."
Sununu's campaign manager, Paul Collins, said Lott's "unprecedented act" is "certainly a tremendous boost." Before the event, Collins said the fundraiser "will prove to be our most successful fundraiser to date this year."
Wednesday night's event "speaks bad things for Smith," said Duffy.
Yet Lewandowski points out that Smith greatly surpasses Sununu in fundraising money. Smith has over $1.5 million in the bank, he said, while Sununu has approximately $660,000, according to the latest FEC filings.
"It takes two things to win in New Hampshire - grassroots and fundraising," Lewandowski said. "Bob Smith has the grassroots support · and $660,000 in the election account this close to the campaign isn't gonna be enough to compete with [Governor] Jeanne Shaheen in November."
Some insiders say Sununu may simply be new to the Senate game.
"Sununu had another bad fundraising report and I just don't get it," Duffy said, calling Sununu's lackluster fundraising "a concern."
Polls, however, show Sununu is doing well. A March 29 American Research Group poll shows Sununu ahead of both Smith and Shaheen in the Senate race.
"Fundraising is an ongoing process and we will have the financial resources to run a winning campaign," said Collins
Staff at the Capitol Hill restaurant where the fundraiser was held estimate that the 40-person room was filled to capacity.
Political action committees (PACs) paid $1000 to attend. Special interest invitees included the Sierra Club.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Smith Co-Sponsors Terrorism Victims’ Access to Compensation Act
WASHINGTON, April 16--U.S. Senator Bob Smith, R-N.H., introduced legislation yesterday that would allow victims of state-sponsored terrorism, like William Van Dorp of Kingston who was held hostage by the Iraqis during the Gulf War, to receive compensation from the frozen or blocked assets of those countries.
Smith co-sponsored the bipartisan Terrorism Victim's Access to Compensation Act with U.S. Senators Tom Harkin, D-IA, George Allen, R-VA, John Warner, R-VA and Hillary Clinton, D-NY.
"Our nation is at war against terrorism, " Smith said at a news conference yesterday, "and this is just one more tool to let the terrorists know they are going to be held responsible in many ways, and certainly compensating the victims is one of those ways."
Van Dorp, 50, a native of North Carolina who was living in Kingston prior to the time of the Gulf War, was working as an English language instructor to the Kuwaiti Air Force when Iraqi armed forces invaded Kuwait in August of 1990.
He was taken into custody as the only American among sixteen other hostages, held at a fertilizer refinery for four months where he was forced to eat food contaminated by pesticides, and lost 35 pounds from malnutrition.
When he was contacted in December of last year to join a class-action lawsuit against the Republic of Iraq and Saddam Hussein by other victims of Iraq before the Gulf War, he expressed initial doubt the case would succeed, but decided to file a statement as a plaintiff and pursue $100,000 to $200,000 in lost income.
Upon his return to the United States, Van Dorp said he spent several years in therapy, suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, consequently losing custody over his five children to his ex-wife.
Under the proposed legislation, which Smith called "long overdue," Van Dorp and other victims of state-sponsored terrorism would receive compensation from the estimated $2.3 billion in Iraqi frozen assets, or the six other "terrorist states" designated by the U.S. Department of State, which include Iran, Libya, Syria, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba.
Currently, the U.S. government actively opposes the use of blocked or frozen assets to pay court-ordered compensation. Rather than having American taxpayers compensate the victims of terrorism, Smith argued, the states responsible for the terrorism should be punished by tapping their frozen assets.
"Saddam Hussein, ironically, as recently as this month, had offered $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers," Smith said, "and the State Department's excuse for not supporting us on this is that if they want to do it, they want the liberty of negotiating with the Iraqis. I say come on now, let's get real.
"Our diplomatic efforts to change these countries have fallen on deaf ears. It's time that these countries compensate. We have the assets seized; let's give them to those people that deserve them," Smith added.
Smith is also working on behalf of Jeffrey Ingalls of Woodstock, who was held hostage as a passenger during the 1985 Lebanese hijacking of TWA flight 847 in Beirut. A New Hampshire couple, Claranne and Talmadge Ledford, were teachers in Kuwait who were also taken hostage by Iraq and are plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Iraqi government.
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
Smith Wants to Make Terrorists Pay
WASHINGTON, April 16--Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would allow victims of state-sponsored terrorism, including former Kingston resident William Van Dorp, to collect from the frozen assets of sponsoring nations.
Van Dorp, 50, was working in Kuwait in 1990 when he was taken hostage by Iraqi soldiers on Aug. 16, two weeks after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of the small bordering nation. He was released on Dec. 6.
As part of a class-action lawsuit, Van Dorp is suing Iraq for "in-between $100- and $200,000" in pain and suffering, he said after a press conference on Tuesday. After his 106-day ordeal, Van Dorp said, he was emotionally distraught and unable to find work in the United States as lucrative as his work teaching English to members of the Kuwaiti Air Force.
Smith joined Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sen. George Allen (R-VA) - the main sponsors of the bill - and Sens. John Warner (R-VA) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in announcing the legislation, the Terrorism Victims' Access to Compensation Act, while standing alongside Van Dorp and five other victims of state-sponsored terrorism.
Smith said the bill is needed because while current laws allow citizens such as Van Dorp to sue terrorists, the plaintiffs have been unable to collect damages. The Treasury Department, Smith said, now has approximately $3.7 billion in blocked or frozen assets from seven countries identified as state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
Last year, Congress passed legislation directing the administration to develop a plan by February of this year to compensate victims of state-sponsored attacks. The administration has not responded. Previously, former President Clinton signed a law endorsing such a move but then blocked payment.
"Saddam Hussein, ironically, as recently as this month, had offered $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers," Smith said. "The State Department's excuse for not supporting us on this is that if they want to do it, they want the liberty of negotiating with the Iraqis, I say come on now, let's get real. We have the assets, they are seized, let's give them to people who deserve them."
Van Dorp spent most of his time in captivity as a so-called human shield in a fertilizer factory in the Iraqi town of Khor-Al-Zubair. He was the only American among 16 hostages.
They were moved next to the refinery's ovens after a few weeks, he said in testimony for his lawsuit, because his captors wanted them to "die with the Iraqis when the Americans bombed."
"This episode is 11-plus years behind me," Van Dorp said on Tuesday. "I've forgotten parts of it. But I'm very happy there's a new interest in our case. I'm glad justice is being served."
Van Dorp said he lost 30 pounds from stress. After he returned to the United States, his ex-wife sued for custody of their five children, citing his post-traumatic stress disorder. He did not find a full time job unit 1994, three years after he returned.
Van Dorp's case against Iraq, which he and other victims have in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is "still on a judge's desk," he said. He does not know how he would spend his money if awarded.
Smith said the bill would help other Granite State terrorism victims, such Jeffrey Ingalls of Woodstock, who was on board TWA flight 847 when it was hijacked from Athens to Beirut in 1985.
One of the five other victims who spoke along with Van Dorp on Tuesday was also on that flight. Others were the wife of a man killed when Iranian-backed terrorists hijacked his Kuwait Airlines flight bound for Karachi, Pakistan, in 1984 and a woman held hostage for 44 days in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
"Our nation is at war against terrorism," Smith said. "This is just one more way we tell the terrorists they will be held accountable."
Van Dorp returned to Kingston, where he lived since 1988, after Christmas of 1990. He now lives on Long Island and teaches English to non-native speakers in Brooklyn.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Snowe Introduces New Child Care Bill
WASHINGTON, April 16--Senator Olympia Snowe, joined by a bipartisan threesome during a press conference yesterday, introduced a bill that would prevent low-incomers from "tumbling" into welfare because child care costs consume too much of their income.
The Dodd-Snowe bill, sponsored by Senators Snowe and Chris Dodd (D - Conn.), seeks to amend a law due to expire this September. Their bill would preserve parents' right to choose the appropriate child care facility and would offer incentives to states to promote early education readiness.
Snowe recounted the story of Mainer Sheila Merkinson, who appeared before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, led by chairman Dodd and ranking Republican Senator Susan Collins, a co-sponsor of the Snowe-Dodd bill. Merkinson testified that the cost of child care accounts for 48 percent of her weekly income. As a result, she cannot afford child care even though she is eligible for it.
In devising the bill, Snowe said: "We used a two pronged-approach to address the two largest obstacles we found facing child care. The first is the fact that demand outstrips supply today and will only worsen as work requirements are increased. The second is the need to assure that the child care is quality care."
Snowe said that the bill, called the Access to High Quality Child Care Act, would affect Maine "positively," adding that the state has "tough standards" in maintaining quality child care.
Snowe also noted that Maine was the fourth state to expand child care eligibility beyond people on welfare to those who are coming off welfare. Therefore, Snowe said, the new bill would affect "a broader range of people."
In her statement, Snowe that the bill was devised in conjunction with the pending reauthorization of the welfare reform law.
"Welfare reform without additional child care funding is like a new car without any gas," Snowe said. "It looks good, but it's not going anywhere. Our bill is the fuel that will drive the next phase in welfare reform."
Dodd-Snowe will be offered as an amendment to the 1990 Child Care and Development Block Grant, which emphasizes that parents can choose appropriate child care providers, depending upon their child's needs.
According to a bill summary that Snowe's and Dodd's offices offered, their bill maintains this parental choice while adding some other key provisions:
The bill would set aside block grant funds to strengthen the child care workforce through scholarships and other benefits.
It would allow states to tap the block grant funds to reimburse parents who pay for child care, thus giving the parents more options in choosing child-care providers.
It would also allow additional state reimbursement for "difficult-to-find care," such as for children who have special needs or live in rural areas.
The measure would try to promote coordination among federal, state and local child care and early child care development programs, including the transition from early care programs to elementary school.
Education is a substantial component to the bill. The senators stressed that the development of a child's brain is most crucial in the years between three and four and that quality child care during these early years is critical to how the child performs when entering kindergarten.
"Just as a fighter prepares before jumping into the ring, we need to ensure that children are ready when the first bell rings," Dodd said.
Senators Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and John Breaux (D-LA) joined Snowe and Dodd at the press conference to endorse the bill.
Snowe said that she and Dodd intentionally left out any dollar amounts from the legislation. They said they submitted the bill for review to the Congressional Budget Office. When this is complete, Snowe and Dodd will make the appropriate changes. A spokesman for Snowe said the Congressional Budget Office should be ready with the number in three weeks.
Published in The Bangor Daily News, in Maine.
Mail, Package Processing Still Seeing Post-Anthrax Delays The Hill
WASHINGTON, April 13--Constituents who are paying for premium overnight delivery services like United Parcel Service and Federal Express to deliver packages to their members of Congress may be wasting their money.
As a result of the Anthrax-tainted letters that were delivered to the Capitol last fall and shut down the Hart Senate Office Building for three months, the processing of mail and packages has been dramatically altered for all congressional offices.
Now parcels must be delivered to an off-site screening facility at an undisclosed location where they are screened for biological contaminants and test results are sent for laboratory analysis to determine packages are safe.
Once that is accomplished, congressional offices are notified that they have a package ready for delivery or more immediate pick up. This entire process can delay the delivery of packages to congressional offices by anywhere from 3-7 days, but no packages or mail is directly delivered overnight to congressional offices as a result of the increased screening.
"We take very seriously any health concerns Senate [and House] staff bring to our attention. Therefore, I have asked a team of scientific, environmental, medical and postal professionals to evaluate established mail procedures and to seek opportunities for improvement where needed," said Senate Sergeant at Arms Alfonso E.Lenhardt in statement released to explain the change in the handling of mail and packages.
The off-site facility is managed by Pitney Bowes and was established by the Legislative Mail Task Force set up to evaluate the handling of mail in the wake of the Anthrax letters.
Some members noted that although they feel safer with the process, they may not receive an express package from between three to seven days past a constituent's original ship date.
"This is the best the Senate and House administrations can be doing at the moment," said U.S. Connecticut Rep. James H. Maloney, D-5th. On the other hand, he added, "I pride myself on constituent service so it's very frustrating when someone says; 'I sent you something FedEx a week ago' and (me or my staff) have to say that the reason we haven't responded is because we haven't gotten it yet."
Although many people were originally disturbed at not being able to get things to members of Congress more quickly, spokespeople for both FedEx and UPS said customers' complaints have tapered off since more information about the screening process has been made public. However, they have not lowered prices for delivery to the Capitol even though it cannot be guaranteed to arrive in member's offices overnight.
David A. Bolger, the director of public relations for UPS, said "If this was something we were in control of, we would make sure our customers got the better option in pricing, but since it is something the entire competitive landscape is in we are staying with our current price structure."
Once FedEx delivers a package to the screening facility within a customer's requested time frame, a company spokesperson said, the shipping company is no longer responsible for any delays involved in the package reaching its final destination.
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's staff, which moved back to the Hart building in late January after being displaced for three months after the attacks, has compensated for the delays by having important documents faxed or e-mailed instead.
"Faxing and e-mailing through our web site is the quickest way to contact us," said Casey Aden-Wansbury, Lieberman's press secretary. "Using regular mail also works, it just takes longer - an average of two weeks, and sometimes longer - to reach us."
All U.S. Postal Service mail to the Capitol, as well as to much of the Capitol Hill residential neighborhood, is being irradiated at an off-site facility. A postal service spokesperson said this process is expected to continue indefinitely.
The USPS spokesperson said the screening process adds about an extra two days of delivery time for letters and large, lightweight manila envelopes.
The staff of U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd, has also devised other avenues of communication to minimize constituent complaints, including posting a message on the congresswoman's website to inform constituents of delayed mail services, according to Ashley Westbrook, who is DeLauro's press secretary.
Maloney's staff also has large documents and books they are expecting sent to his Waterbury district office and then transferred to Washington. Although district offices also have their own screening process, it is not as lengthy as the one taking place in Washington.
"But this is not for public use because that would subvert the whole screening process," Maloney said. "We have (also) used personal addresses for mail that we knew was secure because we've been generating it ourselves."
Congressional members and their staffs also recommend constituents call or email their offices before shipping an item to alert them of its arrival.
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Senate Passes Dodd-Sponsored Election Overhaul Bill
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, April 11--The Senate approved national voting guidelines to regulate how elections are run yesterday, voting 99-1 in favor of a bill introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
The legislation is aimed at fixing problems with voting procedures that were highlighted when the 2000 presidential race was not decided until 36 days after Election Day. "[The bill] gives people the opportunity to vote more easily and protect the ballot from those who would want to abuse it," Dodd said. "For 200 years, we basically have said, 'However you want to run elections in the states, you just go ahead and do it'. I think we're saying here that's true, but we feel as though we've got a legitimate national interest having some national standards, and we're willing to pay for it."
The legislation would require statewide registration lists and call upon the states to check identification for those voting for the first time. It would also send $3.5 billion in federal funds for specified purposes to upgrade election equipment, improve voting procedures and make polling places more accessible for people with disabilities. Each state would be guaranteed a minimum amount and would not have to match the funds. The bill also would require translation services in areas with specific demographics and includes anti-fraud provisions.
The bill is now headed for a conference with members of the House, which passed its own version in December that features fewer restrictions on the states than the Senate bill includes. The House bill would divide $2.6 billion among the states based on voting-age population. The states would have to match 25 percent of the federal dollars. It The House bill also would impose few requirements on how the money is spent Reps. Christopher Shays, R-4th, and Jim Maloney, D-5th, voted in favor of the House measure, which passed, 362 to 63.
"We hope things will be fairly quick in conference," said Sen. Mitch O'Connell, R-Ky. "We believe that it will be and look forward to putting this important piece of legislation on the president's desk
Dodd said the Senate's victory could mean federal dollars could be available for the November elections, citing indications from Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the ranking minority member of the House Administration Committee.
"Congressman Hoyer has indicated to me that now that we've passed this bill in the Senate and even if we're not out of conference· there's a strong case to be made on a supplemental appropriations bill to include some discretionary funds so that even in the 2002 election, we would like to see funds available to jurisdictions," Dodd said.
Dodd also dismissed objections by civil liberties groups to the identifications provision in the bill, saying, "There's some misinformation." He added that there is a long list of forms of identification that would qualify.
"Most people today feel as though having some form of identification to establish you are who in fact you say you are is a very limited request," he said. "I'm satisfied with the provision."
Only Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., voted against the bill, which drew comparisons to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which enfranchised hundreds of thousands of blacks in the South who were denied voting rights through such things as literacy tests.
"This is every bit as significant as the Voting Rights Act," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "I think we're making voting better and better."
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
